The initial public offering of venture capital-backed Matrimony.com Ltd was fully covered midway through the second day on Tuesday, driven by strong demand from retail and institutional investors.

The public offering of 2.81 million shares, excluding anchor allotment, received bids for nearly three million shares, stock-exchange data showed. The book was subscribed 1.06 times.

The retail portion, in which bids cannot exceed Rs 2 lakh, was covered a little over 3.3 times the 5.09 lakh shares reserved for them. The 1.53 million shares on offer for qualified institutional buyers was covered 83%.

The portion set aside for non-institutional investors, comprising corporate bodies and wealthy individuals, was covered about 2%, whereas shares reserved for eligible employees was covered 64%.

The IPO had already crossed the two-thirds mark on the first day on Monday.

High net-worth individuals typically bid on the final day of a public offering to keep their IPO financing costs at a bare minimum. In IPO financing, HNIs borrow short-term capital from various avenues, barring banks, to fund their IPO applications. HNIs also deploy a small fraction of their own capital, or margin money, upfront. Additional capital raised through short-tenure loans help wealthy investors place large bids on an IPO.

The Chennai-based company, known for its flagship offering BharatMatrimony, had set a price band of Rs 983-985 per share for a total IPO size of Rs 501.07 crore ($78.41 million). Of this, the company issued fresh shares worth Rs 130 crore, while the rest will go to the selling shareholders, including promoters.

At the upper end of the announced price band, Matrimony.com is seeking a valuation of close to 2,600 crore.